[National Parks Traveler blog] Noting that the Interior Department has billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee says now is not the time to embark on more spending to expand the public lands empire.

U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, made the remarks in reaction to President Obama’s release of his America’s Great Outdoors report, a document that calls for greater investment in public and private lands to offer greater recreational opportunities and produce healthier communities.

The congressman’s reference to the billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs most surely was a reference to the National Park Service’s backlog, which is in the neighborhood of $8 billion.

The America’s Great Outdoors report, meanwhile, calls for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a total of $900 million, to, among other things, help add acres to national parks, conserve and restore public and private lands, improve urban parks, and create community green space…